The Lion King: 3305
by SR2Turoka-1
Summary: Follows Commander Jameson in the year 3305. Leading a bounty hunting ship and crew, his next target is a smuggler. What he finds in the hold of the starship is something he never expected...Lions. Story of action, family, adventure, and sci-fi. Crossover with TLK and Elite: Dangerous. Set before the events of TLK1. Follow the story as the crew try to gets the lions home.
1. Chapter 1

**The Lion King: 3305**

**(A/N: Hello fellow readers and writers, and welcome to the start of my new story. I know I know. I've been gone for two years and now you decide to show up with a new story. "Are you going to even finish your old story" you might be asking? Don't worry, I already have a plan of action in place for handling that and this new story. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this new story and you have a safe and great day/night.**

**Two last things before I get started here in sharing this new idea with you guys. **

**I want to give you guys a bit of background on Elite: Dangerous so you can know what's going on. Elite: Dangerous is a space combat/trading/exploration simulation game set in a 1:1 scale Milky Way galaxy. This means that Earth is the exact distance from the sun that it is in the real world. Sagittarius A* (aka the super massive black hole at the center of our galaxy) is the exact distance from SOL that it should be in the real world, etc. The game is an open ended MMO Space sim where players set out in a massive galaxy of over 800 Billion star systems to amass fortune, fame, and new ships. Careers in the game range from piracy, smuggling, bounty hunting, exploring, mining, and a few others, with the player never locked into one profession. The goal of the game is to reach Elite ranking in Combat, Trading, or Exploring, and unlock the Founder's World, the heart of the Pilots Federation which every player is a member of. I highly recommend the game if you have a love of space, Sci-Fi, or MMO titles.**

**Both the Lion King franchise and the Elite franchise will play a pivotal part of this first story. To start off how these two "worlds" meet, this story is set before the first Lion King, when Mufasa and Sarabi are just cubs. This is also set in the old style of The Lion King, the 1994 movie. So, when you envision these lions, they aren't the CGI lions from The Lion King 2019.)**

**I promise only this chapter will have a long length to it. I'm not sure if the length (it being over 10,000 words in a single chapter) is off putting to some of you or not. This one chapter is longer than some stories on this site. Let me know if you like the length.)**

Chapter 1: Another Day, Another Bounty

_Space…_

_The boundless Black…_

_Since the dawn of mankind, our ancestors have always been fascinated with the night sky and the strange celestial lights that dwelled within it. Over the millennia, man's interest in space has grown and changed as space became less of a magical mystery and more of a tangible actuality. However, space was always truly out of our reach due to the sheer vastness of its size. _

_That is until the invention of the Frame Shift Drive and the discovery of Witch Space. This remarkable piece of technology finally put the stars…all of them…within our reach. By moving space around the spacecraft while in SuperCruise to travel at multitudes of the speed of light, exploration within our home system, or any system for that matter, became a trivial action. The inclusion of the Hyperspace Conduit into early frame shift drives allowed for the ability to travel light years in mere seconds, all achieved by using the alternate dimension of Witch Space, a dimension where distance between stars is incredibly shorter. _

_Mankind spread out into the stars, colonizing new worlds, discovering the unknown and to boldly go where no man has ever dreamed possible. Hundreds of years passed, and our kind has colonized thousands of star systems around SOL, a region commonly referred to now as "The Bubble", a term for the collective of civilized human space. _

_Still, mankind is, and always will be, mankind. As explorers, traders, and miners set out to discover and work the unknown, the scum of mankind followed its way out into the Black as well. _

_Pirates, Slavers, Smugglers, Terrorists, Cults, you name it._

_That's where people like me…like my crew come in. As bounty hunters, our duty is to bring justice to the galaxy, going where and when law enforcement and militaries can't go. Our Anaconda-Class Heavy ship, __**Shadow of Repent**__, was built from the ground up on bringing the wanted to justice, alive or dead. However, despite all the usual shocks and surprises that one sees as a bounty hunter, there are still things that you never see coming. For me and my crew, that started when we raided the smuggling vessel of the notorious Tyl Nacht, and discovered a familiar, and new, surprise in her hold. _

The space around the main sequence star of TZ Araetis was its usual self-right now. Ships traveling in SuperCruise on their way to various destinations, craft Hyperspacing in and out of the system. It was a normal time for this corporate governed star system. One of the craft that hyperspaced in was a large ship, a ship class famed throughout the galaxy as a big answer to a big problem, regardless of what it was…the Anaconda. The ship exited Witch Space near the star, leaving the exit point of the portal the hyperspace conduit had created. The ship was an elongated design, one that it started narrow towards the bow and swept back about 2/3rds of the way from the front of the ship before curving in slightly and then ending with a stubby set of wings in the rear. The sleek topside of the ship was countered by the bulky and utilitarian design of her hold and bottom half together. The ship was coated in a matte orange paint job and gracing the top side of the port and starboard sides was the ships designation and name.

"SR-10A"

"Shadow of Repent"

Inside the ship's bridge was her crew. The crew of Commander Jameson was at their stations on the bridge.

Commander David Jameson sat in the pilot's seat, suited up in his orange and white RemLock pilot's suit. Jameson was a man of many years of experience as a pilot. The Pilot's Federation rated his combat skills at "Dangerous", two steps shy of Elite. He was a Caucasian man with lighter white skin and blonde hair, which he usually kept slicked back. He had dichromatic eyes due to the fact that one of his eyes was a cybernetic implant. His natural eye was blue, but his cybernetic eye was a crimson red color. Jameson had that cybernetic eye as a result of shrapnel flying through the bridge following a canopy breech during combat in the upper atmosphere of an Earth-like world. Glass had skewered the Commander in his eye and had blinded him. A problem if it wasn't for his gunner and two fighter pilots handling the pirate who shot out the canopy following shield failure.

Sitting to the right of the Commander in his own command seat was his second in command and "Elite" rated fighter pilot, Ellis Gentry. The crew found it funny that an Elite rated pilot was second in command to a Dangerous pilot, but the truth was that _**Shadow of Repent**_ was the property of the Commander. David had bought the ship stock and spent over 700 million credits kitting her out to be a flying beast of death. He knew he couldn't operate a ship this size efficiently on his own. While it was a possibility, it was far easier to have reliable people helping to make his personal beauty of a ship as deadly as possible for what these four do in their careers: bounty hunting. Ellis was an older man nearly twice the senior of David's 28 years old. Despite Ellis being 48, he still had a lot of bite in him, as well as bark to boot. Ellis had brown hair which he kept down to just a buzz cut. He had blue eyes like the Commander, but his were both natural. He was Caucasian like the Commander, but a slightly darker shade of white than the Commander. His RemLock flight suit was red and white.

Sitting to the Commander's left was his other fighter pilot, Jason Marko, a Dangerous rated fighter pilot. He was nearly as deadly as Ellis behind the controls of the F63 Condor as Ellis was behind the controls of the GU-97 Imperial Fighter. Jason preferred the Condor's versatility over the Imperial Fighters incredible maneuverability and as such piloted that fighter over the other option. Jason was a man of African ethnicity, with a fairly dark-skinned tone to him. He had black hair which he preferred to keep in a short Mohawk. He had brown eyes and a solid blue toned RemLock Flight suit. Jason was 33, but his smoking habits should have made him look older than his age if not for the miracles of 34th century medicine.

The last crew member was seated at the gunners' seat behind the Commander, controlling the Class-3 Burst lasers and the Seeker Missile racks that the Anaconda carried, a mere portion of the many weapon systems that this craft had installed into its weapon hardpoints. This crew member was the only woman in the crew, Cassandra Meer. She was of Hispanic ethnicity and she had shoulder length black hair. She was rated as Deadly. She had green eyes as a product of cosmetic gene therapy, an evolution over the concept of plastic surgery from ancient Earth. She was 29 and her RemLock flight suit was a dark forest green color.

In addition to the Anaconda's two class-3 (large) burst lasers on the top of the hull halfway towards the bow from the bridge, and its two class-1 (small) seeker missile racks towards the stern on the bottom of the ship. This football stadium length and width, 500 ton vessel also had one class-4 (huge) multi-cannon mounted on the underside of the ship beneath the burst lasers,, two class-2 (medium) multi-cannons mounted on the port and starboard sides of the ship towards the nose, and one class-3 beam laser mounted on the underside of the ship slightly behind the bow observation deck.

"Alright team, the target should be here in this system somewhere according to our contact" stated the Commander over the rapid electronic beeping noise of the frame shift drive spooling down.

"I'll scan the Contacts feed" replied Cassandra in her Spanish accent. She then added, "Commander, if you could transfer the…"

David interrupted her with the statement of, "Working on it right now, Cassandra." David began to tap a few buttons on the keyboard situated to his left hear his lower left arm. A deep electronic bleep confirmed the action and Cassandra had the Contacts list now visible at her gunner's station. She turned her head to the panel and said, "Much appreciated, Commander."

She then touched the panel to her left and scrolled sideways to the contacts list. She was to observe for any Type-9 Heavy class freighters that appeared and alert the commander so he could scan the vessel for the registered name that they were looking for.

David meanwhile steered the ship out of the original flight path with TZ Araetis' main sequence star as he looked over at the navigation panel that was on his left now. He scrolled through the list of planets, moons, and points of interest that the system had. He noticed that the Nav Beacon for the system was near his position. He locked in the coordinates and brought the ship about to face the location in space of the nav beacon. He then said, "I'm bringing us in for a dropout at the Nav Beacon. Hopefully Tyl will be scanning that beacon to figure out where Snyder Enterprise is."

David was referring to the local star port that had an active black market on it. He was hoping that this was Tyl's first time in the system and he would need to scan the Beacon to log the system's navigational data onto his ship's computer.

David slowed the ship to safe disengage speed and was about to drop out of SuperCruise. Suddenly, Cassandra then spoke up loudly, "Hold on Commander. I got a contact that just popped up. Type 9, .13 light seconds out and approaching the beacon."

Cassandra logged the Type 9 as the active contact for the ship and suddenly an augmented reality circle representing the ships location, and ship name of Type 9 appeared on the canopy glass in front of the Commanders eyes. The Anaconda ship began a detailed scan of the Type 9 in SuperCruise and it soon popped up with the registered pilot's name and ship name.

"Tyl Nacht"

"Interloper"

"Crew we have confirmation on the mission target. I'm going to get behind him and try to interdict him out of SuperCruise" said David as he accelerated the ships SuperCruise speed, the frame shift drive whirring loudly in the background of his voice. He tried to get behind the target ship. David switched the pilot's active fire group to the Frame Shift Interdictor to pull Tyl right out of SuperCruise and into real space to start the engagement.

David got the ship in proper alignment to the Type 9 and activated the Interdictor. Suddenly, blue SuperCruise energy from the Frame Shift Drive appeared around the canopy and the rest of the ship as now the Interloper and the Shadow of Repent were locked in a high-speed game of tug of war to pull the target out of SuperCruise.

The Ship's A.I. then said, "Frame shift Interdictor active."

Almost immediately, the Type 9 began to do evasive maneuvers in an effort to lose the Frame Shift Interdiction tether that now had Tyl's craft in its grip. Whether it was tyl at the helm of the vessel or another of his crew, the team aboard the Shadow of Repent could not say for certain, but David knew that this would be an easy job as the Type-9, even in supercruise, had poor maneuverability.

David followed the maneuvers needed to keep the tether locked on Tyl's ship. David could tell that the pilot had experience with breaking Frame Shift Interdictor tethers before. They were almost too good, but David's experience coupled with the Type-9's maneuverability had this act of a preemptive maneuver in the bag, compliments of the nearly 6 years of experience that he had as a bounty hunter. Finally, a notification came up that the target ship's frame shift drive had been shut down and both of the vessels were brought out of Super Cruise into real space.

David then shouted to the crew, "Showtime people, Let's show our teeth and make this beast roar."

The team got into combat stations as David deployed then ship's hardpoints (weapons). As the weapons emerged from inside the hull, Ellis got his telepresence interface online, as did Jason. Cassandra transferred control of the turrets and missiles from the Commander's station to her own. The four weapons appeared as holographic read outs next to her. The screen in front of her faded in an external augmented reality view of the ship with a targeting reticle.

Ellis replied, "I'm on the GU. I got an itchy trigger finger, and I know how to scratch."

Jason then replied, "Booting up the Condor, Commander. Let's do this."

The crew felt the vibrations throughout the ship as the fighter hanger for the Anaconda opened up with the GU ready to launch first. The white painted fighter stood out sharply from the matte grey metal of the fighter hanger. The hanger extended downwards at a 45-degree angle and released the magnetic clamps as the fighter blazed off into space, engines humming loudly in a high-pitched noise. The Hanger than readied the Condor, which lowered it onto the launch platform. Core Dynamics own model of fighter was less elegant looking than the GU, but boy was it ever as deadly. The fighter's engines started up with a deep throaty roar, the magnetic clamps temporarily engaged before they released as the Condor shot off into space. After the launch of the Condor, the ships fighter hanger retracted back into the hull of the ship, sending more vibrations throughout the vessel.

The fighters that were both deployed currently had Ellis and Jason in them, or at least, a hologram of them. This was due to the technology known as telepresence, which enabled remote control by a human operator in real time up to 30 kilometers away from the mothership, in this case, the Shadow of Repent. Meanwhile, the remote operator was able to experience the same feelings they would if they were in the craft: the vibration of the engines, the roar of her thrusters, the sound of her weapons, even the feeling of G-Force pulled in atmospheric combat.

All of the craft locked their weapons on the Interloper, waiting for the Commanders signal.

"Team remember that the contact wants Tyl alive. Only disable the ship. If it blows up, we are out of our bounty" said David to his team. David then added in a quick statement of, "Target his thrusters, and fire at will."

The two fighters blazed off at nearly 350 meters per second towards the target as they opened fire with their weapons. The GU fired its dual plasma repeaters, while the Condor fired its pulse lasers. David opened up with the gimbaled Class-3 beam laser as Cassandra opened fire with the two Class-3 burst lasers. The goal of the energy weapon fire was to tear through the ship's shields to get at the vulnerable thrusters, which, unlike the Anacondas that were armored, the Type-9 was lacking such armor strength that the large warship had. The weapons fire slammed into the Type 9's shields. In mere seconds, another contact popped up on screen and in the contacts list…a Condor. The ship had launched a fighter of its own. The Type 9 then turned around slowly due to its sheer size, having more weight in the seemingly smaller frame of the ship than the Shadow of Repent.

The Type 9 and the Condor then opened up on the _**Shadow of Repent**_ and its supporting craft, laser and ballistic fire from the Type-9 and laser fire from the condor targeting the vessels. David felt that firing ballistic rounds while the Anacondas shields were still up was but a desperate attempt at defending against a superior foe as bullets did next to nothing to shields. The enemy Condor quickly broke off to target the GU-97. It opened fire with beam lasers, tearing into the Imperial Fighters weak shields. Ellis almost lost the shields if it wasn't for the extreme maneuverability that Gutamaya put into their line of Imperial Fighters. Ellis gazed at his screen to see that the GU was down to 17 percent shield strength when he ignited the craft's boost function to send it flying out of harm's way at nearly 553 meters per second. The Condor gave chase to Ellis, who tried maneuvers to break the bursts of beam laser fire that were pecking at his shields. Ellis cried out, "I need some assistance here."

Jason then spoke in his Nigerian accent, "I'm on the way Ellis."

Jason broke the Condor off its attack on the enemy mothership and targeted the enemy Condor. He opened fire at the enemy fighter hitting it with concentrated bursts of pulse laser fire.

Meanwhile, both Motherships were engaged in a turning battle dogfight in space. The Anaconda had better maneuverability than the Type 9 heavy freighter, and was winning the turning battle, able to keep more of her weapons trained on the Type-9. The limited armament that the Type-9 had was firing at the Anaconda, but the superior shields of the anaconda were holding most of the damage off. The Anaconda nearly had the Type 9's shields down, which surprised David that it took the battle kitted Anaconda nearly two minutes to chew through the Type 9's shields. David dismissed it as Tyl having extensive modifications done to the Type 9's shields.

Weapon fire exchanged back and forth between both sides: bullets, lasers, and missiles being sent into the void of space towards their intended target. The enemy Condor pilot had a hard time trying to outmaneuver and survive against the two fighters launched from the Shadow of Repent. The enemy Condor was still flying, despite its shields having collapsed once already and taking thirty percent hull damage. Ellis took advantage of an opening that the enemy pilot provided by flying straight at Ellis. Ellis whipped the fighter around in flight assist off mode, the onboard computer no longer trying to correct rotational input to prevent endless spinning in space. This enabled a quicker turn speed due to no counter impulse from the maneuvering thrusters.

Ellis reengaged flight assist as he put the super maneuverable fighter in full reverse during the maneuver. The bow thrusters were firing, keeping the ship traveling backwards at 330 meters per second. Ellis opened fire with the plasma repeaters into the enemy fighter, crippling the enemy craft's shields in seconds. Ellis fired off another burst of fifteen shots, most hitting the enemy fighter. He then ignited the boost and flew forwards at 550 meters a second, out of sight of the fighter, which now had 20 percent hull strength.

Ellis then yelled, "Jason, take the shot. Now!"

Jason came in behind the enemy fighter and fired off his entire power distributer worth of weapons energy he could. The craft reached zero percent hull integrity as the fighter's fusion reactor was breached. A few explosions peppered the fighter before it detonated in a low yield nuclear blast. The onboard systems of the fighters registering the explosion audibly as little more than a dull popping explosion noise in space from the detonation.

Ellis then shouted, "Yah! Great shot, Jason." Ellis threw his fist in the air in celebration.

Jason meanwhile was bringing the Condor around to target the Type 9 again, now that its first round of fighter escort was killed. He then said, "Not a problem, but we still got the mothership to handle, Ellis."

Ellis whipped his fighter around and aimed his plasma repeaters at the Type 9. He then shouted to Cassandra and David, "Shadows One and Two, moving in to support."

Both Ellis and Jason ignited their boosts and blazed towards the Type 9, engines whirring and roaring respectively as the fighters had different engine models built into them. The Type 9's shields had just come back online at half strength and no sooner did this happen than the Type 9 boosting forwards out of combat.

David's eyes widened at the realization of what was going on, his heart racing from the adrenaline of the fight. His grip tightening on the controls of his station.

"Team, Tyl is moving to activate his Frame Shift Drive. We need to take out his thrusters. Now" yelled David to his crew!

The crew of the Anaconda opened fire full force on the Type-9 to get the shields to drop so they could get a shot at the escaping ship's engines.

Explosions, plasma and laser, and kinetic weapons were wrecking the shields, the blue aura of the shields suffering impacting hits visible to the crew. After what felt like hours, but only less than a minute due to the gripping and high stakes chase the crew were experiencing, the enemy vessel's shields were down.

David whipped the Anaconda in flight assist off mode and boosted after the retreating Type 9. With the enemy shields still down, Ellis and Jason opened fire on the thrusters of the enemy ship with their weapons. Laser and Plasma scorched and melted through the lightly armored metal of the thrusters, taking out one thruster. Meanwhile the enemy turreted weapons fired at the Shadow of Repent in a desperate attempt to take out the attacking craft. David targeted the attacking turreted pulse laser and Cassandra targeted one of the attacking turreted multi-cannons. Both crew members let their weapons fire their deadly rounds into space. The lasers under control of Cassandra and the multi-cannons controlled by David impacted their respective targets, and in only a few seconds of concentrated fire, two her turrets were down. That left one last turret. For a boarding mission to work, all turrets had to be destroyed.

Suddenly, blue balls of plasma tore into the still firing turret. The turret malfunctioned and sparked before exploding as the ammo store went off.

Ellis' GU-97 roared past the enemy vessel as Jason shouted, "Thought you could use a hand, now let's put her down for the count."

David then aimed his multi-cannons at the remaining thruster for the Type-9 and fired off a steady stream of high caliber bullets into space. The bullets carved into the Type-9 engine. In a few moments, the engine exploded from a malfunction, ripping itself apart and stranding the craft in space now.

David then punched in a few buttons on his left holographic panel and a bleep noise confirmed the command for the ship to auto dock with the rear airlock of the Type 9. The Anaconda slung around in space so the right airlock would park next to it. There would still be open space surrounding the two airlock chambers, which meant that the team needed to suit up.

David got out of his pilot's seat after relinquishing control of the ship's turrets to the onboard A.I. and said, "Alright guys, gear up for a boarding party."

"Hell yeah, sir" yelled Ellis in enthusiasm, a grin on his face. The two fighter pilot operators gave command of the fighter craft over to the mothership's A.I. While the A.I. was not nearly as aggressive as an experienced pilot in combat, the purpose was to have the two fighters stand guard while the crew boarded the enemy freighter. Cassandra also gave control of the ship's turreted weapons to the A.I. for the same reason.

A few minutes later, all four crew members were wearing their body armor and transparent, bullet resistant pilot helmets with her hermetically sealed glass visors and had their weapons ready for the boarding party.

David brought his XM-98 ballistic assault rifle, a military grade rifle used by the Federation army. He had his holographic sight on the weapon as well, and an under-barrel plasma thrower, a device that launches short-range high-energy plasma blasts designed to disintegrate organic targets. A very expensive piece of military hardware gifted to him by his father who serves in the Federal Army's CRUSADER program, an experimental future tech weapons division.

Ellis had the GV-01 ballistic assault rifle, a military rifle standard issue for planetary forces within Alliance space. He had an under-barrel laser scatter gun, the GS-42, attached to his weapon. This laser scatter gun was powered by swappable fusion cells, rather than a self-charging battery like modern Empire laser weapons. He had the red dot sight equipped for his weapons sight.

Cassandra had the GR-111, an Empire designed scatter laser shotgun. It operated off of a self-recharging internal battery, but it was prone to overheating if fired for too long. This newer model of the Empire scatter laser had a design flaw that hadn't been rectified in this current design…it was prone to the battery shorting out if it suffered too many burnouts. The GR-111a had fixed this critical design flaw. For medium range engagements, Cassandra brought her GG-1 Empire ballistic handgun.

Jason had double duty this time. He had a XI-77 Federation made burst laser rifle that operated off of fusion cells, but he also had the XO-10 Stun Launcher, a non-lethal pistol sized weapon that fires an energy blast that disrupts with the electromagnetic patterns of the brain, causing temporary unconsciousness equivalent to that of falling asleep in a short term medical coma. He had the honor of using that on Tyl when they encounter him.

The crew gathered in their ship's airlock, the interior door to the rest of the ship sliding close with a hiss. The team were double checking their weapons, ammo, and equipment. David then said, "Be careful and keep your shots accurate. We have no idea how many hostiles are aboard this ship." David nodded to Ellis for him to begin the override hack on the enemy airlock. The remaining crew crouched down and trained their sights on the door, ready for the enemy to open fire once the door slid open. Their hearts racing in anticipation of the thrill and rush of combat. One couldn't blame them for this mindset, as Commander Jameson has run with this crew of his for the last six years. Their world has been bounty hunting, apart from the occasional shore leave and stop at a station to rearm.

Ellis hit the confirm command for the override and he got ready for the breach into the enemy ship, crouching down and training his assault rifle on the door. "Get ready team, once more into the breach dear brothers" said Ellis quoting the ancient playwright Shakespeare.

The airlock chamber vented its atmosphere into space through three grates in the ceiling above the _**Shadow of Repent**_**'**s team. The groups life support that was built into their suits came online as the oxygen drained away. Finally, the exterior door into space opened, the infinite black void gazing at the team. The team stepped outside the door, walking slowly across the platform, artificial gravity keeping them from flying off. They walked to the Type-9's airlock. Ellis raised his gun up in one hand as he began to run a bypass on the console outside of the Type-9's airlock. A very faint hiss was heard as the enemy's airlock vented its atmosphere into space. The exterior door opened and the team stepped in. Once the door closed behind them with a soft hiss, the ship began to pump air back into the chamber. Sound returned to its normal volume and air support deactivated. The ship's A.I. then spoke saying "equalizing Airlock pressure with interior atmosphere." The interior airlock to the ship then opened, revealing the ships interior.

The inside of the Type-9 was very utilitarian, the walls a gun metal grey color with dark blue accents, there were a couple of bulkhead doors going down the hallway the team currently was in.

The inside of the Type-9 was visually clear of hostiles for the time being. There was no way to hear if somebody was scurrying around the corridors of the freighter as the Type 9's emergency alarm was blaring as red lights flashed on the walls. However, the crew of the _**Shadow of Repent**_ were mistaken that it was clear when they faintly heard a voice shout, "Kill those boarders!"

The crew of the Anaconda fell back to the airlock and took cover behind the door frame as laser and bullet fire shot off their direction. Cassandra was hit in the initiating weapons fire, but her body armor stopped the two incoming .45 caliber bullets.

David shouted, "Team you are free to return fire" as he braced himself behind the door frame as bullets ricocheted off the solid metal wall.

**(Earlier in the Type 9's cargo bay)**

The cargo bay of the Type 9 was quiet right now. The only sounds came from a crew member of the smuggling ship, a black male, walking through the bay, as well as snoring coming from an open-air cargo pod. These open-air cargo pods had repulsion fields instead of a solid metal casing. The purpose of this was to provide air for live cargo within the container, such as slaves or animals. The blue repulsion fields hummed softly as the cargo within it was currently asleep, for the most part. Inside the container were three lions: two lionesses and a young female cub. The cub was asleep in the embrace of her mother, a tan lioness with blue eyes. She was currently asleep as well. Although they were currently asleep, that did not mean that they were sleeping peacefully. Their fur was matted and covered in dirt, with the mother's covered in patches of blood as well. They were nestled in a corner of the cargo pod. They were stiff in their posture while they were sleeping, as if they were on edge and scared of something. The only other lioness was currently awake. She had red eyes and dark tan fur. She was pacing back and forth, the literal metaphor of a caged animal, trying to wrap her head around how she got here.

Her name was Harnia.

She had no clue not only where she was, but also where her fellow Pridelanders who were hunting are. The lioness and the cub were not from Ahadi's pride, and for that, she was scared of what the fate of her fellow Pride members could be. These creatures...have they killed them? Eaten them? The only thing she knew for certain was that she had somehow gotten here, and these creatures were to blame.

**(One week ago, in the Pridelands; Harnia's perspective) **

The birds of the lands were chirping as the sun was rising over the land of King Ahadi and Queen Uru. Harnia had just woken up with the sun. She stood up and stretched out her body, her back cracking with the stretching. Already some of the pride was getting up, those being the ones that were chosen for the hunting party yesterday. Queen Uru and King Ahadi were still sleeping with their cubs, Mufasa and Taka (Scar). They usually didn't get up until later in the morning. The King started his duties about 3 hours after sunrise. Harnia stepped out of the den of Pride Rock and gazed at the bright red, orange, and yellow sunrise. It was something she had grown accustomed to living here, and she loved it every day.

The beautiful sunrise.

A lioness walked up to her named Garona and sat down next to her, she had light tan fur and creme underbelly fur, orange eyes and a tuft of fur sticking out from the top of her head. She then said to Harnia, "Well, it looks like today is going to be another sunny day in the Pride Lands. How did you sleep, Harnia?"

Harnia turned her head slightly towards Garona and spoke with a slight smile, "Oh I slept good, aside from some strange dream I think I had in the night. I think I woke up from it. I dreamt of some strange noises almost like something was distantly roaring in the sky."

Garona's muzzle turned to a frown as she said, "Really? Well I didn't hear anything all night apart from bats and insects chirping. It must have been a dream or maybe you were hearing another animal."

By now, the rest of the hunting party, five of the lionesses in the pride, were coming out of the den to stretch their bodies and prepare for their morning task.

The hunting party leader for today was one of the senior lionesses, Fambre. She had golden fur and tan underbelly fur. She had jade green eyes. She walked towards the gathering that the other lionesses had formed. She sat down in front of the group with a smile on her muzzle.

"Okay, ladies. Today is a special hunt for reasons that I think you are aware of" She said gazing at the group. "We have two new huntresses joining us for the first time today. They already proved themselves on their solo hunts, but now will be the test of teamwork and coordination." She then turned her head to look at the two new lionesses to her right. She grinned at them, "Ebere, Zebere. You two ready for this? After this hunt, you will become proven huntresses and true lions of the pride."

Ebere then looked at the other lionesses, then to her sister Zebere. She then said with confidence, "I think I can speak for both myself and my sister that…" she then gazed at Garona and resumed speaking, "we were born ready."

Fambre then turned to look at the Pride Lands. She then said, "We shall see if you are. Let's move out ladies."

The group set off down the rock ramp like path that led from the den's entrance towards ground level. They ventured out into the Pride Lands.

Along the way, Harnia had been talking to another one of her pride mates, Xolania. They had started talking about the beautiful weather until they got onto another subject.

"Yeah Harnia, last night was surprisingly cool for it being the dry season. I had a hard time sleeping because I was a little cold. I think eventually I managed to sleep; I had a dream about some strange noises last night" said Xolania recounting her experience last night with a hint of tiredness in her voice.

Harnia stopped where she was walking for a few seconds. She stood frozen.

_I thought that was myself dreaming _she thought a little uncomfortable at what was said. She then sprinted to catch up with Xolania. She then spoke slightly alarmed, "By chance did these strange sounds sound like something roaring from the sky?"

Xolania gazed at Harnia as she now also became alarmed. They kept walking as then said, "That...can't be. How could we manage to share the same dream?!"

Harnia hung her lead low as if in thought. Her eyes then widened as she then said, "Unless it wasn't a dream."

Xolania then stated, "Okay, now I'm a little uneasy."

"Me too" said Harnia flatly.

About a minute later, they heard a snap of a tree branch off to the group's right. All five lionesses froze as Fambre then said, "Stop!" She then paused and gazed at her surroundings, only to find no cause for this phenomenon. "Something is stalking us."

Upon saying this, the group formed a defensive group. They went back to back in a circle as they got down low and growled, ready for something to attack them.

They then heard a soft male voice say, "Oh way to go you fool" almost as if it was being said under its breath.

They then realized that the voice was coming from behind a boulder a short way away from them.

Ebere then said, "Zebere, watch my back" in a hushed tone.

The two sisters then began slowly creeping up on the boulder, making sure to avoid any rocks or branches that they could step on. They reached the rock and crouched down on their side of it. They gazed at each other and Zebere nodded at Ebere. They then leapt around the boulder and turned to face the hunk of rock.

They breathed a heavy sigh of relief as it was a familiar face to them.

Ebere then said, "Mufasa, what are you doing out here" in a curious and strict tone?

The little cub got defensive and looked back and forth between the two lionesses. He then said, "I...I just wanted to see a hunt. I've never seen our pride take down prey before."

Zebere then said annoyed, "Are your parents even aware that you're out here?"

Mufasa looked towards the ground and shifted his head slightly to the side. "No" he then said with a guilty tone."

Suddenly, the whole group heard a voice softly say, "Roger commencing asset retrievement."

The whole group gazed around for the strange voice using strange words. All they could see were distant trees and very tall grass in the savanna.

Harnia then saw something shiny and green fly towards Ebere, Zebere, and the voice that sounded familiar to them. They couldn't quite hear what was being said as the two groups were 30 something feet away from each other. It landed near them and exploded, releasing a thick green cloud.

Harnia shouted with panic, "Ebere, Zebere!" Suddenly two more objects of the same type were thrown their way as well. They landed in the midst of her group and exploded as well. Harnia heard her pride mates coughing as she felt the strange gas start to choke her. Her vision became blurry as she felt very heavy suddenly, like she had no energy. She watched both groups collapse to the ground as she was the last to fall. She hit the ground and coughed once more before losing consciousness.

**(Back in the Type-9 cargo hold)**

When she awoke, she was in this container with Tamaria and Liani. They weren't from her pride. They were from a neighboring pride outside of the Pride Lands, in a valley known as Komeo Valley. Harnia was terrified and confused as to where the rest of her hunting party was. She was stuck in a shiny blue lit "cave" with no way out. Outside of the "cave", she had no clue what anything was. There were plenty of other shiny caves, but none looked like they were like the one she was in. She noticed these strange two-legged creatures that had been walking around the area visible in front of her from time to time. Every time one would pass her, she'd keep her eyes locked on them and growl slightly. She had no clue what or who they were, but she believed that they were responsible for her ending up stuck in this cave. The only things she knew about these beings was that they could talk in a language that she could understand, and that they had names. She knew this from listening in on them when two would meet up near her and talk to each other. She couldn't recognize any of their names as familiar, nor could she understand much of what they were talking to each other about. Words like "Car…go" and Frame Ship…Shift Drive" or something like that were common words she heard several times. All Harnia knew is that she was scared and confused, and she wished she could go home.

Harnia tried pawing at the strange blue field in front of her again, only for her paw to press up against the field like it was a solid wall. She felt absolutely trapped and hopeless, a weight of darkness seemingly hanging on her heart as she felt like she would never see the PrideLands again.

She sighed and laid down where she stopped pacing and was about to try to sleep, when suddenly, a massive rumble woke the two sleeping lionesses up, and made Harnia's ears perk up. Very soon after, a force jarred them all into a wall of the container they were in, slamming them into the repulsion field. All three of them felt like they had been tackled by a rhino they hurt from the sharp impact. Soon, a deafening noise assaulted their ears, followed by red light pulsing in the area around her. Liani was shaking in panic and Tamaria was darting her head around as she growled when she hit the side of the container.

A voice then seemed to boom all around them as it then said in an accent unfamiliar to them, "Crew, this is Tyl Nacht. An Anaconda has interdicted us out of SuperCruise and has launched fighter craft. Report to your stations. I say again, report to your stations.

The three lionesses noticed a group of these strange creatures running past them, carrying weird objects in their hands. They seemed to be in a rush to the lionesses, as it was unclear to them what was going on and what that loud booming voice had said.

Tamaria counted at least 7 of those creatures carrying these weird objects of different sizes and colors. Unbeknownst to the three of them, the crew of the Type-9, all 10 of them, were running to their assigned combat positions of the ship. The 7 figures they saw run past them were the personal bodyguards of Tyl Nacht, armed to the teeth.

Suddenly, the area around them vibrated for a few seconds before it went completely still. Then, new sounds assaulted their ears as the loud blaring noise coming from all around them was joined by periodic bursts of muffled noise as the Type-9's weapons opened fire. The three lionesses huddled together as they were terrified by the noise and lights around them. Liani was shaking uncontrollably underneath her mother's legs.

The whole ordeal around them went on for a few minutes as distance voices were shouting, alarms blared, lights flashed with warning, and soon the Type-9 was being shaken with enemy weapons fire. Booms and crashing sounds were heard until they eventually too subsided, ending in a loud explosion that echoed throughout the whole ship, even into the cargo hold.

The loud booming voice belonging to Tyl Nacht came back from earlier and said, "Crew, our engines have been disabled and the Anaconda is attempting docking with us. Defense team, prepare to repel enemy boarders."

**(Meanwhile, back with Commander Jameson's team)**

"Shadows 2 and 4 cover my advance. Suppressing fire on my mark" shouted the Commander. He was referring to Ellis and Cassandra by their operation codenames, not wanting to expose their identities to their attackers.

Bullets and laser fire slammed into the walls and the support posts that lined the hallways of the Lakon Spaceways vessel. The crew of the _**Shadow of Repent**_ had managed to push out of their own airlock, with Jason sealing it behind them to prevent the enemy from accessing their own ship. However, the team was still stuck in the hallway near the Type-9's airlock. The barrage of enemy weapons fire was slowing their push to a crawl. A few bullets and lasers found their mark on the crew of the Anaconda, but the military grade body armor stopped most of the shots. David was hit with a laser blast in his right arm. The pain the man felt was searing as the laser blast managed to burn through the pilot's suit material and burn his flesh beneath it. The benefit of being shot with a laser is that you don't need to worry about bleeding since the heat of the energy cauterizes the flesh shut. It still can cause damage to underlying tissue, including burning bone and organs if the full power of the laser were to hit its target without being diluted by armor or even a flight suit. David knew that he would have a nasty scar until he could get medical attention to have the wound fixed and scar tissue removed.

The commander loaded a fresh magazine into his XM-98 and cocked back the charging mechanism on the left side of the rifle. He then shouted over the weapons fire, "Mark!"

Cassandra and Ellis moved out of cover slightly and sprayed weapons fire down the hallway towards their attackers. Lasers and bullets returned fire, forcing a few of the remaining attackers to take cover and wait out the onslaught.

David sprinted from the support post he was at to the next one in front of him. The plan David had was to force the remaining 5 attackers to back down the hallway a bit and give David and his crew enough space to retreat back if the need came to be. The last thing he needed was to have his crew with their backs pinned to a wall and nowhere to fallback to.

Cassandra's shotgun had overheated for the first time in this engagement, a product of her putting the shotgun on its non-recommended setting of full auto and firing for a few solid seconds nonstop. She went back into her cover point and shouted, "Weapons burnt up, venting." She took hold of a pump on the right side of the scatter laser and pulled it back. This caused the thermal core of the shotgun to eject out of the top of the weapon for a few moments to vent its built up energy. Steam hissed as hot air blasted to the left of Cassandra's face. She kept the core exposed for a few seconds before it cooled down enough to support the weapon firing again. She brought the pump forwards and the core went back into her weapon with a mechanical click. She then peeked down the hallway to see four attackers left; the fifth one was on the ground bleeding from the side of his neck from a bullet. He was crying in agony for help. The remaining enemy attackers were trying to get to their fallen comrade, but weapons fire was too concentrated from Davidson's crew to give them the opening they needed.

David then loaded a fresh magazine into his XM-98 and shouted, "Shadows 3 and 4, advance on my mark. Shadow 2, ready to suppress the enemy on my mark."

David peeked out around the corner, only to press himself back against the support post from enemy weapon fire. He then breathed a deep breath and said, "Shadow 2, mark."

David and Cassandra stepped out of cover and fired their weapons, suppressing the remaining enemy combatants. They moved into cover. David immediately shouted, "3 and 4 move up. Go, go, go!"

Ellis and Jason sprinted to the next set of support posts to take position. David's rifle clicked dry after firing its 40 round magazine. He moved back into cover and reloaded his rifle.

The four of them kept attacking and pushing the enemy back. The _**Shadow of Repent**_ crew suffered a few impacts with enemy weapons fire, but their body armor absorbed most of it, while the flight suits absorbed most of the energy of the rounds that connected outside of the body armor. David was hit with another laser blast, this time in his right leg. The man resisted the urge to scream as he felt the heat of the laser round burn his skin. The fact that he was standing was proof enough that the blast failed to penetrate his body beyond the skin and upper layers of muscles.

Cassandra was hit in her right leg with a bullet. She screamed as she nearly fell from the pain. Her flight suit constricted around her right calf in an effort to stop the bleeding, but for good measure, Cassandra pulled out a combat stim from a pouch on her body armor and injected herself with it. Within moments, she felt the pain cease as heavy duty, non-drowsy pain killers kicked in to dull the pain. She also felt the other benefits of the stim in it increasing her reflexes and giving her a dose of energy to keep her fighting. Her wound would still require medical attention later, however.

The defensive group of Tyl Nacht was down to 2 now, who began to fall back. It was clear to the Shadow of Repent crew that despite them being Tyl Nacht's personal bodyguards, they were still just hired guns. Like all mercenaries, when the odds are stacked against them, they want to live another day for another pay than die. The _**Shadow of Repent**_ crew was still opening fire on them as they slowly fell back. This continued until they disappeared out of sight around a corner.

David had a chance to look around now that his life wasn't in danger at the moment. He stepped out from behind cover and gazed at the 5 dead bodies of Tyl's bodyguards. They were either dead or dying, with the latter being the last one to go down. He was on the ground, two bullet wounds in his stomach. He was wheezing when he breathed, but David could tell he wasn't long for this world. He stepped over towards the fallen mercenary. David's crew were following close behind, and as they noticed the dying man on the ground, they aimed their weapons at him. They acted like they suspected he'd attack at any moment, but David was the only one who remained neutral in his actions at the moment.

The dying man struggled to see David as he heard footsteps approach. When he managed to lift his head, he tried grabbing his pistol from his holster, but dropped it as his body convulsed. He cried in agony.

As strange as it was to him, David felt sorry for the dying man. He was trying to earn his living in this brutal galaxy, just like him and his crew. It was a shame to David that this man fell on the opposite side from him. David stopped by the man's body and gazed down at him. The dying man rasped, "If your…going to…kill…me. Then do it." Blood came out of his mouth as he spoke. David wished there was something he could do, maybe take him in alive to stand for his crime of protecting a smuggler wanted in over 110 systems. At least he wouldn't be dead then. However, he knew that this guy had tried to kill his crew just minutes ago. His crew was like his family, and he was not willing to gamble with the only family he had left in his life. He ultimately decided to do the man a favor, in a cruel twist of irony.

David aimed his rifle at the man's head and said, "It'll be over soon." He pulled the trigger slowly and put a bullet in the man's head. A gunshot rang out as blood splattered on the floor.

David gazed back at his crew, rifle in hand as he then said, "Come on team, we still got a job to do."

The other three crew members nodded at David as they left to find the smuggler they were here for.

**(Back in the Type-9's Cargo Bay)**

Liani, Tamaria, and Harnia were trapped in their cargo container, too afraid to run if they even could. The loud blaring alarm was still sounding around them, emergency lights flashing. They had listened to a constant barrage of sharp, muffled sounds that they were unfamiliar with, screams and shouting mixed into the audible chaos. The sequence of sounds had lasted nearly 15 minutes before they stopped. The lionesses had no idea where those noises were coming from or what they were.

They heard the sound of footsteps approaching them as presumably some of these strange two-legged creatures were approaching their location. They heard panting faintly as well. The two bodyguards of Tyl Nacht from earlier stopped running in the middle of the cargo bay. Harnia could just barely see them through the repulsion field in front of her. They were panting like crazy as one of them was hunched over, gun dropped on the ground.

"The hell were those guys, ex-military? There's no way those are your typical pirates" said one of the humans, an Asian woman in her mid-30's.

The other human, a white man in his late 20's, then replied, "I don't think those are pirates Lilian. They're way too well trained and equipped."

Lilian finally caught her breath when she then said, "I don't really care what they are. Tyl ain't going to be happy. We got to extract him from this ship if we want our paycheck at the end of this. Can't get payed by the dead."

The man then said, "You seriously think that Tyl'll will abandon his cargo, especially those mutated lions? Those would be worth a fortune to the right party. Collectors or scientists or whatever."

Lilian than said, "Well, he can't stay here. He'll be killed or captured, especially once they find out who he is with the latter. You go find Tyl, I'll go g…"

Lilian then stopped speaking as a gunshot rang out in the area. She collapsed where she was standing, dead, blood pooling around her head. The gun shot made the lions cringe and cower low where they were, ears hurting from the sound with their sensitive hearing. The man darted his head around, trying to find the attackers. He finally saw then, but this was unbeknownst to the lions as they were out of sight from them.

The man then cried out as he dropped his gun, "Don't shoot me, I surrender." He clearly thought that this was his best bet of not dying.

"Smart man" said Jason. He then lifted his stun launcher and fired it at the man. The weapon fired with a crackling noise as energy hit the man, making him stumble backwards. He then said, "The hell...wez…"

He then fell to the ground and mumbled before he was rendered unconscious.

Liani then spoke to her mother in a whimper, "What's happening? I'm scared, mommy."

Tamaria pulled her daughter closer to her, her head darting around, trying to figure out that same question for herself. She was scared herself, but she would be damned if she was going to let whatever did this hurt her daughter too.

They then heard new voices and footsteps approach their location.

"Good marksmanship, Ellis" congratulated a voice unknown to them, despite all their time stuck in this "cave."

David then said, "maybe this one might be worth some extra credits" as he nudged the unconscious man with his right foot.

Another voice responded, which they associated with the name Ellis, then said, "Product of two years in the Imperial Army."

Four new figures gradually walked past them and stopped at the bodies of the dead and unconscious humans.

Ellis then said, "I hope he'll be worth something, we only got one shot left."

Tamaria was scared and defensive of her life and the life of her daughter at that moment. She let instinct kick in and got in front of her daughter and growled at the 4 figures.

The humans whipped around and aimed their guns at their cargo crate. Jason lowered his rifle after realizing what he was staring at.

"What the hell are those things" stated Jason with shock at what he was looking at?

David stuttered slightly and said, "I…I have no idea. They look like Earth jungle cats, but I can't tell what species."

Cassandra then scoffed and said, "I don't care what they are Commander. We didn't come here to see what Tyl was carrying, we came for him."

Jason and Cassandra walked away from Ellis and David, focused on their mission. Their footsteps gradually grew fainter. In the meanwhile, the Commander gazed at the three jungle cats and was trying to wrap his head around why a smuggler known for trafficking weapons and slaves be interested in with three animals.

David then got down on a knee as he crouched down to look at them near eye level. He placed his hand up against the field, the field stopping his hand from phasing through. He then said, "You guys must be so scared right now. Light years away from home."

David locked eyes with the animals in the container, he thought they looked familiar, but he couldn't quite place their species. When suddenly…

Liani then said, "I want to go home, mommy."

David jumped backwards and fell on his butt. He stared shocked at the little cub that had just spoke perfect English to him. He was breathing sharply in a state of surprise.

Tamaria then said, "Don't speak, Liani."

Tamaria's posture was in the defensive, worried what these creatures would do to her daughter and Harnia.

"The fucking shit stain! Tha…that animal just talked" cried out David as he aimed his rifle at the creature who just spoke.

Tamaria roared at David, the noise hurting his ears. Ellis trained his rifle in an instant on the lionesses' head. She then said growling, "That animal is my daughter, and you'd be wise to back away from me unless you want to die."

Cassandra and Jason ran back over to make sure their ears weren't playing tricks on them.

David then said, "We aren't going to hurt any of you. We aren't even here for any of Tyl's cargo." David paused as he was panting, still recovering from the shock moments ago.

Cassandra then asked what David was about to ask, "What…are you guys?"

Harmia then asked inquisitively, "You creatures never seen a lion before?"

Cassandra shook her head as she then said, "It seems like you guys have never seen humans before this either."

"Hum-man" asked Liani in confusion.

David then said in disbelief, "This can't be possible. The last species of lion became extinct in the year 2134. How the fuck can you guys be alive…how can lions exist after more than 1000 years of being extinct."

The lionesses gave the humans just as confused of stares as the humans gave the lionesses.

Jason then asked, "How did you guys even get here on this ship?"

Harnia was about to answer as best as she could when a voice familiar to the lionesses then spoke up.

"You know, that's my cargo you're talking to there. I'd appreciate if you leave it be" said a male voice. The crew turned around and parted slightly to see that three new humans had entered the cargo bay. All three humans wore dark green flight suits and body armor. The right human was a white male and had red hair and a red mustache. The left human was an Asian man, with a black mohawk and a scar running across his right cheek to his ear. The team could certainly tell that these two other humans were Tyl Nacht's actual crew.

"Especially since none of you were invited onto my ship" continued the human in the middle, looking at his left hand, rubbing his thumb and fingers together as if examining a grain of sand.

David narrowed his eyes as he remembered the dossier picture of this particular human.

"Tyl Nacht" spoke David with anger in his voice.

Tyl Nacht and the other two humans were armed with assault rifles, all Alliance make, and wore an unusual looking set of body armor. Tyl laughed and said, "Oh the countless times I have heard my name said like that." Tyl paused and looked at his crew. He then looked back at David's team and said, "Politicians angry at the arms I smuggle, systems authority officers furious at the drugs and weapons I steal and smuggle, and my enemies when they realize that falling on the wrong side of me can be…unhealthy."

The there of them aimed their weapons at David and his crew.

David and his crew aimed their weapons at their rivals. Jason trained the stun launcher's sights on the V.I.P target. The bulky pistol like weapon charged up with a loud whir.

The lionesses looked between the two groups and started to back away into the corner further from them in their containment unit. They could tell the animosity that hang in the air between the two groups of humans.

David then gazed at Tyl and said, "You sure you want to do this, Nacht? We know it will only end one way."

David and Cassandra tightened their hold on their weapons grips. Ellis and Jason each had their sights trained on one of the heads of Tyl's crew.

Tyl then smirked at them, which befounded the crew of the _**Shadow of Repent.**_ He then said, "Oh, I'm sure I know how this will end. I get four bodies to blow out the airlock."

David knew that if he didn't figure out a way to handicap Tyl's team, at least one of them may not walk out of here. He looked out of the corner of his eye at Jason, who was to his right. He then proceeded to scratch the side of his gun, just above the trigger. A code for one of the emergency protocols that the team had for high stakes situations such as this. Jason saw this clearly, and he then proceeded to rub two fingers together from his free hand not holding the stun launcher.

The tension was broken when David then shouted, "Now!"

David simultaneously ducked and reached his hand for the short-range plasma thrower. He flung himself to his left as he fired a pulse from the device towards one of Tyl Nacht's guards. The guard aimed his rifle at David, only for the high energy plasma to crackle as it hit the enemy crew members crotch. His flight suit disintegrated, as did his crotch, upper thighs and lower abdomen. All this happened with a loud crackling and sizzling noise. The human shrieked in agony as his upper torso fell to the ground amidst his lower legs. His rifle fired up in the air 4 times and then the weapon flung out of his hand.

At the same time, Jason dove for his right as he trained the stun launcher on Nacht. He fired the stun launcher, the weapons higher pitched energy frequency heard over the plasma throwers lower frequency. The full force of the stun blast hit Tyl in the head.

"You dirt…thy mo…" he shouted as he became disoriented as his cognitive functions were shutting down.

He then stumbled forwards and fell to the ground, unconscious.

That left one more crew member. He aimed his rifle at David and fired once. A single bullet hit David in his lower abdomen. David screamed as the bullet ripped through the Remlock suit and went into his body.

At the same time, Cassandra fired her scatter laser at the only remaining enemy soldier's head. Against his unprotected skull, the laser tor into his face, killing him.

David laid on the ground, hand against the bullet wound in his abdomen. It took only a second before Cassandra then shouted, "Commander!"

She then shouted, "Jason, Ellis. Watch my back."

She dropped next to the Commander as he then said, "Fucking shit, this hurts."

She pulled out a stim shot as she then said to him, "I got you Commander. This will take away the pain. You'll be good."

David then said, "No, it won't. I got hit in the gut. I need medical attention…now" he said through gritted teeth.

She looked down and saw that the wound was bleeding profusely.

"Oh fuck" she said wide eyed in concern.

"Guys, The Commander needs immediate medical attention. We got to get him to Alex" she said as she grabbed the Commanders weapon in hand.

She was referring one of the support personal that they had on the _**Shadow of Repent**_. Alex was the ship's medic.

Cassandra handed his weapon to Jason.

She pulled the Commander up with difficulty as he was crying out in pain.

"Ellis, grab Nacht and the other asset. We need to get them in the Brig and the Commander to the Med Lab" she said.

The team was about to fall back, when David then said, "Wait, we ain't leaving…them" he said in pain.

"Who" said Ellis confused?

David then said, "Who do you bloody think?"

"What, the lions" asked Ellis?

He then continued and said, "Commander, they are just animals. Your bleeding to death and you want to save those animals?!"

"You know we are right here. We can hear everything your saying" said Harnia annoyed and angry that these humans were treating them as if they were disposable. She was glaring daggers at Ellis.

David then responded, "We're going to scuttle this ship after we leave. I refuse to leave these innocent creatures behind to die."

He then looked at his team and said, "Ellis, find a way to load their containment unit onto our ship. Search the cargo hold for any more of these lions."

He then looked at Jason and said, "Jason, gain access to the ship's navigation database. I want to find where these poor guys came from. I got a feeling it isn't from Earth."

He then turned his head to look at Cassandra and said, "Cass, take me to the med lab."

"Aye Aye, sir" responded Jason and Ellis, saluting the Commander.

Cassandra then said, "Its okay, I got you Commander."

The two of them turned around and the Commander hobbled towards the exit of the cargo hold.

**(A/N: And that's it for the first chapter. I hope you all enjoy this start to this story. Before I sign out, I just wanted to let you all know somethings. **

**First, I apologize for the two years of inactivity. I lost interest in writing Fanfiction and devoted much of my time to school and other hobbies. About a week ago, I was reading one of my old stories and I concluded that I should at least try to finish the stories that I have out there before I leave Fanfiction. Then I realized that this new idea of mine was for a story that I was super excited to want to write, and depending on how it goes, this could be my last new story. **

**Second, after I finish posting this chapter, my next update will be for Project Paradox. I will rotate between writing for both of those stories until they are finished. This current story could potentially turn into a trilogy, which means that I am putting my own original novels I have been writing on hold to finish my fanfiction. Like I said, I feel bad now that I have been inactive for 2 years, and I want to make it up by finishing these two stories first, then maybe working on another. **

**Finally, I hope you all will want to see this story to the end. Like I said, I'm proud of this new story and I think it will be something truly unique. **

**Until next time, I wish you all a safe and happy day. I will be back with an update to Project Paradox later.)**


	2. Chapter 2: The Beginning of the New

**Chapter 2: The Beginning of the New **

**(A/N: Hello my fellow readers and writers, I'm back with a new chapter for this story. I am horribly sorry for the long wait. I devoted much of my time during the last half of this year towards finishing school. I have now graduated with a bachelor's degree. Couple that with the chaos of this pandemic and the turmoil that America is in right now, and the fact that I spent much of my free time writing an original piece of science fiction writing that I plan to publish, and I have stopped writing fanfiction. I, however, did conclude that it is not fair to those of you who like my stories, however many of you there are, to leave them unfinished. That is why I am going to try to work on those stories for a while. I will try to crank out a couple of chapters for my other stories during this time. I have also decided to change this stories perspective to first person, but with different perspectives for different scenes in each chapter thrown in. I find it more immersive this way but let me know what you think. I am also going to do a slight rewrite and expansion of the first chapter to match this new perspective. That will come after another new chapter, I think. That said I will start with this story. **

**Now on to the story.)**

**(leaving Tyl Nacht's ship, from Cassandra's perspective)**

"Come on Commander, not much further" I said, reassuring the captain of my starship. I looked down and saw that blood, while contained to a degree by the Remlock flight suit clamping down on the area, was still dripping out of the bullet wound. For it to do that, the wound would have to be bad…really bad. The crimson of his blood still starkly showed on his orange Remlock suit as it dripped on the ground intermittently one drop at a time. I was glad that the Remlock suit was keeping most of the blood from gushing out of the wound. I knew that this type of wound could get septic if the bullet had penetrated the intestines or the stomach, though the later was unlikely as the wound was too low on his abdomen. My body was coursing with adrenaline, both from the fights on this ship, and for the life or death situation of David.

I made dure that the med-lab was ready for the Commander. I hailed the frequency for our own ships' artificial intelligence matrix, an A.I. program that we have fondly called SARA (or Systems Analysis and Remote Artificial (intelligence)). I then said, "SARA, put me through to Dr. Li down in the med-bay."

A response came through the headset with SARA saying in her emotionless voice that sounded sythesized, "Affirmative."

Dr Li then responded with him speaking in his Chinese accent saying, "This is Li, what's going on Shadow 4?"

I nearly stumbled with the captain as he seemed to slump a little as he was walking. He also let out a groan of pain. I then said, "Li, the commander's been wounded! Gut shot with a bullet and two laser burns. I've been shot in the right calf. Prepare the lab for incoming. My wound's not bleeding too bad past the suit, but the Commander's suit isn't stopping all the bleeding. It might have hit a major artery or something."

Li seemed concerned as there was a momentary pause before he said with haste in his voice as I could hear him drop something in the background, "I copy, I'm prepping the lab now. I'll have SARA send the triage pod to keep him stable in the meantime. It can't leave the ship, so you'll have to get him to the **Repent**'s" air lock." He then paused as he said with fear, "Please hurry Cassandra, I don't want to lose either of you. I refuse to."

I then responded with determination and strength in my voice, refusing to lose any of my "family", "I got you doc. He ain't going to die on my watch. We've been through too much to lose people now."

I knew that our line of work was risky, and obviously so. Many criminals such as pirates and smugglers would rather fight to the death than risk winding up in a cell somewhere, especially with the Empire's tendency to enslave their prisoners. The Alliance would rather see transgressors of their sovereign territory be made examples of. The Federation was the most lenient in this regard, they just outright wanted to kill most of the pirates and smugglers in their territory rather than waste prison space on them. This meant that many fights were fights to the death, and we have been lucky in not losing a crew member yet to this job.

The trek back to the ship felt long, and with each second passing I knew we were running out of time. Underneath this determination, I felt fear. We have looked to each other over this time for guidance, kinship, and hope when things seemed bleak, and I have known the commander for nearly six years. We have fought together and bleed together during that time. My "family" meant everything to me, and to lose a member, I just didn't know how we would cope, especially with it being our leader. Still, I felt a pain in the pit of my stomach knowing that time was against us. My heart raced in fear for his life, unsure of the extent of his injuries.

_What if he doesn't make it,_ I thought? _I don't want to bury my friend and leader._

I then heard over my comms headset a familiar voice.

"Shadows 1 and 4, I have an update on my orders. I found a shipping manifest for the cargo in the hold of this ship. After looking it over, there seems to be an anomaly in the manifest. The pod with the lions in them is not marked anywhere in the logs. It's like Tyl didn't want anybody, even his own crew, to know where they were headed too" said Ellis as he explained his update on his job through his headset.

_That seemed quite suspicious to me hearing that _I thought. _Was Tyl doing smuggling so high profile that he needed to hide it, even from his own crew. I knew a group of talking lions not only seemed impossible but could be exceedingly valuable. I wondered who they were for?_

I then heard the commander grunt next to me as we went into a cargo lift to take us out of the cargo bay and into the level above us. The doors slid open with a hiss and ended in a metallic clang as they reached the end of their tracks. The commander then said in a pained voice, "Guess we got to do it the hard way." He then paused for a second as he said, "Ellis, I want you to check each cargo container and see…"

Ellis then shouted, "You got to be shitting me commander, there must be hundreds of cargo containers in here. You want me to check them all?"

I hit the button for the lift to take us up to the level above us. The doors slid shut with a clang and the hydraulics for lift began to raise us up the shaft.

The Commander then said with a near emotionless tone, "I'm not going to repeat myself Ellis, I refuse to leave these poor souls stranded in space to die, or get picked up by god knows what or who else."

Ellis groaned, clearly frustrated, and said, "Fine, but I still don't think we should take them with us. They are man eaters for Christ sake."

The commander then said as he had pulled his hand away from the wound, he had just covered to check how bad it was bleeding.

"Your concern has been…" he said only to interrupt himself by then saying, "That's a lot of blood…a lot of my blood."

Ellis then said with concern in his voice, "Commander, don't you quit on me."

I then saw that the lift was almost at the top of the shaft, towards the next level. I confirmed this through the digital screen readout that was next to the control panel for the elevator, showing the elevators location in the shaft.

"Cassandra, you get him to the…" he began, only for me to then say, "What you think I'm doing here

Ellis, I'm not exactly taking a stroll in the park."

Ellis then said, offended, "I'm only looking after the Commanders best interest, you know, considering the man's been shot!"

I said nothing as the doors to the lift opened and we stepped out of the elevator. I kept helping the commander hobble down the hallway towards the airlock. The utilitarian looking and grey walls of the Type-9 seemed to go on forever, and granted it was a big ship, it was still easy to get lost in.

We rounded the corner to see that we were staring at the Type-9's airlock, the end goal in sight. The light at the end of the tunnel.

I then said to the commander, "We're almost there. Just hold on." We finally got to the airlock as I activated the commanders oxygen helmet, the covering forming around his head from a liquid like material originating from the suit itself, until it expanded to its final form and solidified into a glass helmet with metal reinforcement and frame.

We made the crossing through the vacuum of space and into our own airlock, the doors closing silently in the vacuum, leaving us in a modestly lit room. Then the ship began to flood atmosphere into the room as SARA then said, "Standby. Equalizing pressure with internal atmosphere." After a while, the vents flooding the atmosphere sealed and the doors opened. On the other side of the door was a hovering gurney like unit with a few medical support machines attached that was our ships mobile triage unit, meant to keep the injured stable until they reached the lab. I helped the commander climb into the unit, he was grunting and groaning from the motion to get in, his wound causing him pain and discomfort.

Sara was about to move him towards the lab when I then said, "Hold up SARA."

The unit stopped moving for a second as the A.I. then said, "Cassandra, the Commander needs…"

I then interrupted, ignoring her and gazed at the commander's face, I could see he was barely holding on. I then leaned down and looked him in the eye and said as I put a hand on the unit near his head, "See you on the other side, David. You make it out of this, and drinks are on me."

He chuckled as he then rasped, "I'll hold you to it, lady." He looked at me managing a weak smile.

I then said to SARA, "Get him there on the double."

The unit then took off down the hallway going at a fast, but safe pace for the confines of the ship. The Commander went past a bulkhead door and the door closed behind him. He was now out of sight.

I knew I wasn't much good here, so I turned around, heading back through the airlock as I then said, "Shadows 2 and 3, This is Shadow 4. I'm on my way back in."

I gazed back at the bulkhead door the commander had gone through as I then thought to myself, _Stay Strong Cassandra, he'll be alright…he has to be._

The door for the airlock that led into the ship then closed behind me.

**(David's Perspective)**

I opened my eyes. I knew something was off from the start. I heard birds chirping and the wind rustling tall grass. I propped myself up on my arms as I leaned up to look around me. I was beyond startled and puzzled by what I saw.

I was in some flat plains on a planet. The sky above me was blue and air smelled sweet with the aroma of flowers and wild with the smells of nature. All around me was tall beige grass, areas of dirt, and the occasional tree or grouping of trees.

I then mouthed, "what the hell."

I tired to stand up, but my body felt so weak, it was like my body was glued to the ground. I was beginning to feel very uneasy, then I heard a loud droning sound come closer and closer to me. I whipped my head around to see an Anaconda fly overhead. It was painted white with yellow accents. The hull of the ship look liked it had design modifications made to it. The engines roared in the atmosphere of whatever planet I was on. The ship flew overhead, heading towards a point in the distance.

Suddenly the ship deviated course, where my eyes were met with something unnatural sticking out of the ground. Off in the distance was what looked like some communications antenna sticking out of the ground. It had bits and bobs of metal objects coming out of various parts, as well as what looked like a dish of some sort at the top. The design seemed odd to me, but from this distance the exact fine details were impossible to make out.

The ship continued towards the location, but suddenly a huge beam of bright green light shot out from some place nearby the antenna. The ship was struck with what was without a doubt a weapon of some sort as the ship had a huge explosion emanate from the front of it, followed by the craft exploding more as it broke apart. The main area, containing the bridge hit the ground first, followed by other pieces of debris. I must have been miles away from the incident as I suddenly hear a loud crackling sound of energy and electricity that threatened to blow out my eardrums. I covered my ears and shut my eyes as I fell back to the ground. My ears began to ring. After a while I opened my eyes and saw that a large plumb of smoke was drifting into the sky. I was dumbstruck as I tried to prop myself up again but couldn't. I tried multiple times grunting and struggling, but all to no avail. I then turned my head to look to the right and I was frozen with fear at what I saw.

I saw every member of my crew. Dr. Li, Cassandra, Jason, Ellis, and the rest of my support crew. They were standing near the smoldering wreckage of the ship, the ship behind them.

_Holy Crap, did they survive that impact? Wait, was that…our ship _I thought?

I squinted my eyes at them as something seemed quite off with them. They were standing still, shoulder to shoulder with only a few inches separating them apart. They had neutral expressions on their faces and seemed to be…like…not there. Then suddenly all their heads at once shot down to look at me, still with their blank expressions. I was wholly unsettled as my heart pounded in my chest; my breathing rapid. I then saw them one by one disappear into a cloud of what could only be described as black particulates of something. Soon they were all gone, vanished into a void of nothingness. I then heard what sounded like distant whispers that seemed to be emanating from right next to my head, however that was possible. I then gazed forwards to see the worst thing I've seen yet…

Myself.

There was a copy, if you could call it that, of myself that stood right in front of me now, gazing at me with empty eye sockets where eyes should be, and almost a black, mineral looking skin. It then raised some unknown looking weapon at me, leveling it at my head. I tried to scream, but nothing came out. The being then said, "Shadows burn and suffer, all it caused…by you." It then pulled the trigger.

I awoke with a start as I screamed. My eyes darted around where I was. My heart pounded, my body dripping with sweat. After I finally realized where I was, I relaxed a little.

I was in the _**Shadow of Repent**__'s _med-bay. I heard the sound of monitors beeping, machines pumping and moving, as well as the sounds of beeping from a holographic interface. Suddenly the beeping of the interface stopped, followed by rapid scurrying. I then saw somebody round the corner where my medical bed was, tucked into a nook in the medical bay. He was a man in his 40's, balding black hair, Asian skin complex, with a moustache and 5 o' clock shadow. He was dressed in a red and white medical uniform not made of the material of Remlock suits, but rather made of some synthetic blend.

It was Dr. Li.

"Well, I see our man of the hour is awake. I didn't want to interrupt your rest…if you could call it that" he said. He then walked over towards the left wall of my nook to gaze at a heart rate monitor. He pushed a few buttons as he then said, "Your brain activity was going crazy for a while." He then gazed over his shoulder at me and the said, "Tell me, were you having a dream?"

I finally laid my body back down on the medical bed. I then said, "uh uh, doc. I would say more of a nightmare."

Dr. Li then checked the IV that was connected to me as he then asked, "Care to share what it was about?"

I gazed at the ceiling of the room and said, "I dreamt of death and destruction, but it almost seemed like I was some place I had never been before. But, this…dream…it felt so real, as through it had happened, which I know to be impossible considering you and I are talking."

I then paused as I looked at the doctor and said, "I take it I survived the ordeal?"

I knew it was a stupid question to ask, but considering what I had just dreamt of, it slipped out of me. After all, the dream felt so real, as though it had happened. Every second of horror and mystery felt totally tangible.

The doctor just chuckled at me in response as he pointed to my heart rate monitor and said, "Well this thing certainly isn't monitoring the rate of the ships bathrooms usage."

I smirked at the Doctor and said in response, "Are you sure. I mean the cook's dinner last night certainly kept me glued to the toilet."

He gazed at me for a second and rolled his eyes, the then went to check my I.V. that I apparently was on, as he then said with a smirk, "And yet, you were the one who hired the guy. Don't let the cook catch you saying that. Isaac might be libel to poison your food, you know, given his…um past."

I knew what he was talking about. Our cook, Isaac Monroe, used to be a career criminal. It was always funny amongst the crew how an ex-con was serving on a bounty hunting vessel. Jason even called it "the greatest wonder of the galaxy." However, Isaac paid most of his debt to society in an Imperial prison, serving a sentence of 8 out of 10 years for trying to start a slave rebellion on an Imperial world less than 30 LYs from their capital system. I actually recruited Isaac by buying him from the Imperial prison. They would often sell convicts to the highest bidder, and what the bidder did with the prisoner, the Imperial justice system didn't care. My crew was befuddled by why I would make such a course of action, but I explained it as Isaac was trying to lead the enslaved people of the planet to freedom, and who could blame them for wanting it. Slaves often died due to grueling and hard tasks, as well as environments. In fact, Gutamaya, the Imperial military ship supplier, considered their "work force" totally expendable.

Isaac confirmed my assumptions but added that his primary goal was to bust out one of his fellow gang members who had been captured and turned into a slave at this camp. He didn't want to fail the gang leader. Isaac told me that his gang used to smuggle drugs across the planet into various cities and ports, but with how violent the gang was becoming, he wanted an 'out'…and I was his 'out' of that life. I decided that if I took him in on the team, I'd have SARA and the crew keep a close eye on him. For the first few months, he could only prepare food if one of us was present in the kitchen and him restocking the kitchen had to go through us, just to make sure he wouldn't try any funny business. I was fairly sure that Isaac was telling the truth, but we eventually came to trust him as he did us. After a while, we let him do things on his own and he hasn't done anything to us. The ultimately funny point was that Isaac was not a bad cook. He certainly was no gourmet chef, but he got the job done.

I then gazed at the doctor with an eyebrow raised as I paused for a second, before saying, "You saying I should have left him to the Imperial legal system? That's funny considering you were the first to voice support for hiring him."

The doctor shrugged his shoulders and said, "Well, I guess everyone does deserve a chance, right?"

I had to agree with the doctor on that one.

He then stood at the foot of my bed and said, "So, I take you want to know how the whole situation with Tyl and his ship went after you were brought on board?"

I then shifted my position in bed, my back getting slightly sore. I then said, "Lay it on me."

He then went to get his rolling desk chair from his desk, leaving my view of a few moments as he then began.

"Well, Cassandra wanted me to tell you that the lions were retrieved and brought to our ship. They are situated in the cargo bay. There were two containers, a total of 9 lions were in 3 containers."

Li came back with his chair and sat down next to my bed, towards the front of the bed by me. He then continued by saying, "Tyl and his only living guard were put in the brig. SARA is keeping a watch on them with the automated Mk. 26 Laser turrets and security cameras. As for you, you lost consciousness shortly after you got to the lab." He then hung his head and was motioning with his hands a bit as he then said, "It was…touch and go to say the least. But with my medical training, and the ships surgical suite, I treated the burns from the laser fire, so you won't have any scarring." He then looked at me as he continued, "I repaired the damage to the muscles that the lasers caused, and I also removed the bullet that had punctured your small intestines. I treated the wound and the abdominal cavity for sepsis. I then sutured you back up and kept you in a mild coma for a few hours after your surgery to monitor your condition. It seems you woke from the coma with a start."

I then asked an important question. "How long have I been out" I said with both curiosity and concern. I hoped that my time incapacitated had not kept the crew too on edge. To be honest, I wasn't even sure if the crew knew I survived.

The doctor shrugged his shoulders and said, "Eh, not too long. About 8 hours. Two of them were from the surgery. After the operation, you fell asleep, probably from the narcotic painkillers and the stress of the day."

I then sighed and said, "Well, I guess we need to start discussing what to do with our animal cargo." I then looked up into room and said, "SARA, start a group telepresence with the rest of our crew."

SARA then responded through the ships loudspeaker system saying, "Yes, Commander. Linking you now."

Soon, one by one, my crew appeared in front of me using this technology, starting with Ellis. It took about 45 seconds, but finally everyone other than our two ship's maintenance engineers were present.

_Must be busy with the fusion plant or something _I thought.

My crew were standing at the foot of my bed looking at me, as they started appearing. Ellis smiled with relief, then said, "Well, glad to see your finally up and at 'em Commander. How do you feel?"

I said, "Better than when I was shot, but I didn't call for small talk. We need to figure out what our next course of action is with the lions we have on board."

Ellis then shook his head and said, "David, they are man eaters." He put heavy emphasis on the eater's part. "I think our best course of action involves the airlock."

I stared at him mouth agape as I then said, "So you want to let the void kill them, cubs and all."

Ellis then raised his voice as he then said, "Well, I sure as shit ain't letting those things loose on the ship. If we do that, I'm jumping ship on an escape pod."

Another voice chimed in, the voice belonging to Isaac as he then said, "I have to agree with Ellis Commander. We don't know how any of them will react to being loose around the same species that put them in those containers. They probably don't have the best impression of man right now."

I gazed at Isaac, a man in his 40's who had multiple tattoos on his arms, a darker Caucasian complexion with a few moles on his body. He had blue eyes that were nearing on the grey side, and a few scars on his neck and his face, the largest going from the right side of his head towards his right ear.

I then said in response, "Isaac, Ellis, I'm not planning on letting them have free roam of this ship." I then cocked my head slightly and asked, "So how are our 'guests' doing?"

Cassandra, who had appeared last in the Telepresence call, then said with her arms crossed, "Well, last time I went down to the cargo bay to check on them, a few of them growled at me. None of them lunged at the barrier, which might be a good sign. Beyond that, I asked them if they were hungry and one of them said, "Depends on what we get, creature."

I did not like the last part as he wasn't sure what the lioness who said it meant. Was it a veiled threat? Was it an acceptance of the offer of food, and the food not being the crew? Either way, I could not say.

I then said, "I can't tell what she meant, but I don't like that response." I then noticed two more people enter the call, our ships engineers.

"Sorry we're late, we were in the maintenance shaft of the power distributor fixing a power coupling. It seemed that the coupling took some strain during the fight with the enemy. It was iffy if it would go, so were decided to replace it" said Maintenance Engineer Linsey McDougal.

She was a shorter woman, about 5'1". She was of Irish descent and was in her 20's. She smoked like Jason.

Linsey then resumed after her pause from speaking as she looked around at the rest of the crew. She then asked, "What's this 'town meeting' about? Don't tell me it's about the lions we acquired?"

Cassandra then nodded to her and said, "It is. We were discussing what to do with them."

Lauren then looked at me as she then said, "Have you considered talking with them Commander?"

Lauren looked nearly identical to Linsey, sans her red hair color instead of Linsey's blonde. She also had hazel eyes.

I looked at her and scrunched my brow as I then said, "Um…what do you mean?" I was curious as to see what she was getting at.

She then started walking about the room, going behind her to stop and look out the med-bay windows off a way in front of my bed. She stood there as she then placed a hand on the glass and leaned up against it. She then said, "It was your idea to bring them on board, Commander. I think it would be best for you to talk with them." She turned to look at me with a smirk and said, "To them, you're the kind soul who took them away from the bad humans."

I gazed up at the ceiling, looking at the metal etching that was in the ceiling, coupled with a few exposed wires that dangled down a few inches from the ceiling. I then said glumly, "Yes, but if I don't play this right, they may see us all as no different than Tyl and his crew."

I then breathed in and said with an exhaling breath, "Alright, I'll talk to them." I then gazed around towards the faces of my crew as I then said, "Thank you all for your time, you may get back to your things."

The crew saluted me as they faded out of view in a static like effect one by one.

I then leaned up in my bed and tried to get out. Dr. Li must have seen me as he glanced at me for a second before rushing over and saying, "Hold your horses, David. You need to stay in bed and rest and recover."

He had blocked the side of the bed I was trying to get out on with his body as I then gazed at him and said, "Is that your official diagnosis, doc? Or do you just hate to see me leave?"

The doctor looked at me with a "really" stare as he then said, "Official, you stubborn goof."

I sighed and got back into bed as I then said, "How long must I wait?"

He responded by checking my I.V. again as he then said, "Well provided you promise me to be careful with the stitches and the staples, I can have you out of the bay here in the next hour. I just have to make sure that the sedatives that put you in the coma run out of your system and you can return to light duty for a day."

He stopped what he was doing and looked down on me with a frown as he then said, "You know, you are surprisingly coherent for somebody just coming off a sedative. Are you still weak at all, or have a fuzzy head feeling?"

I nodded and said, "I still do feel a bit weak and I have nausea. Why?"

The doc nodded and said, "Hmm" he said with a click of his tongue. "…better make that 2 hours before I let you go."

I pulled the white, heavy cotton blanket over my head in frustration as I then groaned loudly, "You're killing me Doc."

I heard him chuckle at me as I knew this was going to be the longest two hours of my life.

**(Meanwhile, down in the cargo bay; Harnia's perspective)**

We had no clue where we were. The creatures said they were taking us away from the clutches of the creature named Tyl Nacht, but I wasn't sure whether to believe them or not. My fellow pride mates were getting antsy from being crammed in these "caves" too long. I then heard a loud extended grunt as I looked behind me to see Xolania charging the glowing area of the cave she was in across from our "cave". She hit whatever the glowing part was and bounced right off it, knocking her back about a foot. She stumbled around groaning and shaking her head.

I expressed my annoyance with a growl. "Xolania, will you give it a rest. Trying for the 3rd time won't work better than the last 2" I said to her.

She said through gritted teeth from the pain, "Oh yeah…" She shook her head once more before seeming to regain her bearings. "What do you suggest we do, wait here to die" she added staring at me with anger in her eyes.

I then heard the cub Liani say in a panicked voice as she started shaking, "Mommy, are we going to die? I don't want to die. I want to go home, mommy."

She broke down crying as her mother, Tamaria, tried to comfort her. She was laying down and pulled her daughter with her mouth into her paws as she then said in a soothing and gentle voice, "Hush my dear. We'll be alright."

I caught on to this and shouted, "Xolania, stop freaking the cub out. We…are…not…the…ENEMY. Blame the creatures who have taken us prisoner."

Xolania growled slightly before stopping. She sighed and hung her head low as she then said, "I know. I'm sorry. I just want out of this cave."

I then heard Ebere speak up from the neighboring cave as she then said, "You think we're going to be alright?! Let's face the facts." She walked up towards the glowing thing as she looked around with anxiety in her face. "We have no clue where we are, how to get back to the Pride Lands, or even what these creatures are that are holding us prisoner. I've never seen their kind before."

I nodded as I then responded, "Me neither, which makes them incredibly dangerous."

Just then, I heard the hiss of something out of sight from us and the sound of steps approaching our caves. My eyes narrowed as I got ready to pounce. It was instinct however as I knew it would do no good.

One of the creatures came in front of our caves stopping, squatting down and looking into my cave. It was clearly a female as I could tell from her scent. She had green eyes and black "fur" on her head. I growled at her with a venomous tone.

She didn't seem phased as she then said, "Woah, easy there. I'm not here to hurt you. I'm just checking up on you. I was told to anyways."

Xolania narrowed her eyes at her and said with a scoff, "Which one of you monsters was it?"

The creature looked behind her as she said, "That would be my Commander." Upon seeing the confused stares from us, she tried to clarify. "My leader? Does that make more sense to you?"

Zebere then said with fear in her voice, "What are you going to do to us?"

The creature scratched the back of her neck with her top left "leg" as she then said, "We…aren't sure. We're trying to figure that out."

The creature looked around the room towards Xolania's cave, then ours, and then out of our sight. She then said, "Are you hungry? I think we could give you something to eat."

I then heard an unseen voice that I recognized as Fambre say, "That depends on what we get, creature."

The being in front of us seemed stunned and taken aback by the response. I then heard a sound that I couldn't describe coming from her. She looked down at her top left "leg" and said, "About time the man was awake, I was beginning to worry."

She stood up and walked out of sight. That left us wondering what that was about, but we would soon find out what it indeed was about.

**(Two hours later, Cargo hold, David's perspective)**

I was taking the lift down to the cargo hold. Accompanying me was Dr. Li and Jason. Jason and I were armed with our weapons just in case something happened down there. I gave Li an Alliance C-82A1 auto pistol, chambered in 9mm. The weapon bared a little resemblance to the M93 Rafika from 21 century Earth, but was painted black, had a blue ghost sight, and was made of polymers and composites. I told him we didn't know what to expect from these lions. With maneaters, even though we were unlikely to have a problem with them being in cages, we decided to bring our weapons just in case. Unlike the lift of the type-9 that was grey and utilitarian, the cargo lift had wires hanging down a little from the ceiling, as well as a series of thin red lines going around the perimeter of the lift, near the bottom. The holographic lift control panel was blue instead of the type-9's orange.

I was tapping my foot, the light sound barely audible over the sound of the elevator riding through the shaft.

The lift was moved with electromagnets in the Anaconda, which enabled the lift to not only move faster, but carry more weight.

We reached the bottom of the shaft, in the cargo bay as the doors hissed open as they moved a bit slower than normal. I gazed at the doors for a second before looking up and saying, "SARA, send a repair request to Linsey and Lauren for level 1 of maintenance elevator shaft 3A."

We walked out of the elevator car as SARA then said, "Acknowledged, I have filed the repair request. If nothing else is needed, I will divert full focus to watching our prisoners in the brig."

We began walking through the cargo hold, which since this ship was used for bounty hunting, was exceedingly small for its size, only capable of holding 16 tons of cargo. The bay was nearly empty, with only a few crates of supplies for the galley, armory, and ship ammo. In here were our lion guests as well.

I stopped walking and looked at Jason to lead the way to the crates. He nodded as we followed him. We soon arrived at the cargo containers that were near the right side of the hold, nestled in with the other supplies for the ship. As soon as we walked into view, we received growls of aggression from the lionesses and looks of fear from the one female cub and the male lion cub.

I looked at our guests as I then began to speak. "It's nice to know that our efforts to get you out of Tyl's ship before we scuttled it worked. I was told you're all here, which is good for us and for you all."

I then walked down the walkway a bit before turning around and sitting on the floor so I could talk to the lions. Li leaned up against one of the containers, earning a snap from one of the lionesses, causing him to flinch in surprise. He seemed hesitate to try to lean up against the crate again, and therefore he then sat down on the ground as well in view of them. Jason was the only one who still stood up as he set his eyes on me. He was also the only one of us with weapons at the ready. He waited for where I was going with my talk to the lions.

I then spoke again as I said, "I apologize for us bringing weapons down here, but with the history that lions have had with man, I felt it was necessary. I would feel truly terrible if we had to use them against any of you. I don't want to have your blood on my hands."

I then looked at the container to my right, sweeping my vision to the left container as I then said, "Is there anything I can get you? Food? Water? Anything?"

The growling seemed to have died down as the lionesses looked at me with not looks of aggression and hatred, but with confusion. Who could blame them, the last humans did abduct them after all?

One of the lionesses, one who had blood on her fur, then said, "If you really want to help us, you could give us our freedom."

I looked at her and shook my head saying, "I'm sorry. Release is out of the option until I can be assured you won't harm the crew, and we won't have to harm you."

Then the female lion cub looked up at me with a shaking voice and said, "We don't want to be here with you. We want to go home. I miss the Pride Lands."

It was my turn to have a curious gaze as I then furrowed my brow saying, "The what lands?"

There was a pause as the lioness with the blood on her fur then said, "Hush Liani, let us speak with this creature."

I propped my arm up on one of my knees as I then said, "Hey, we're not creatures. We're humans." I then paused as I said, "Have you never seen a human before?"

They all shook their heads as another lioness then said, "Our kingdom has never seen your kind before."

Jason then said, "Is the…whatever lands your speaking of part of this…kingdom?" He then looked shocked as he then said, "Hold on a friggin second, how can lions have a kingdom? Your just animals."

I have to admit, I was curious too.

Another lioness then said, "Our kingdom is what is the Pride Lands. It is ruled by our king, King Ahadi and his mate, Queen Uru."

Just then, the male lion cub then spoke up as he then said, "I just want to go home, I want to see my mom and dad."

I gazed at the little cub as I then asked, "What's your name, young one?"

He then locked eyes with me, gazing at me with red eyes as he then said, "M…Mufasa."

I then stood up and walked over to his crate, which was stacked up on another crate as I peered in. The little cub backed away a bit as he then said, "Hey, what are you doing? I'm not scared of you."

I raised my hands defensively and said in a calm voice, "It's okay little one, I'm not going to hurt you." I then looked at them all and said, "I'm still kind of shocked though that you lions can talk."

They seemed offended by what I said, as evidenced when the lioness with the bloodied fur then said, "Why, is that unusual to you?"

I shook my head in disbelief. "Unusual" I responded? "There have never been any recorded instances of lions, or any animal, and a human having a conversation before. I'm sorry if I offended you."

Then Mufasa said, "Why…why did you bring us here? What are you going to do with us?"

I placed my hand on the barrier right in front of Mufasa. He seemed mildly concerned as I then said, "I brought you here to save you. I wasn't going to leave you stranded in space with no hope of survival. I would never do that to anyone who didn't deserve it. I just…I wanted to help you."

The lion cub Liani then looked at us with pleading eyes as she then said, "Can you help us get back home, human? I miss my friends and my family." She drifted her gaze down as she started crying. I felt my heart break in two seeing these lions desperately clawing for a chance at seeing their homeland again. Especially this little cub.

My throat threatened to close up with my next sentence as I then said, "Oh honey, I'd love to, I really would. But I don't even know where your home is. There could be billions of…"

Suddenly, SARA then interrupted my sentence as she then said, "Actually, that is not entirely true David."

The lions seemed freaked out with the disembodied voice speaking in the room they were in.

A lioness growled as she then said, "Who's that?"

I then assured her. "Easy there, that's just SARA, she…" I said, drifting off when I realized that I couldn't really explain what an A.I. was to a lion.

"She…um…" I said stumbling for words.

SARA then said over the ships intercom system, speaking locally into the room we were in. "I am a non-organic entity embedded within the central computers of the **Shadow of Repent**, the vessel you are currently on. I serve in both support and light offensive combat roles. I am a prototype and am the only one of my kind built so far. I assist the crew in handling…"

I then interjected when I knew she had totally dumbfounded the lions, "Okay, SARA. I'm not sure if they can understand anything you just said. Let me handle it."

SARA then replied, "My apologies, Commander."

I then gazed at the lions who were horribly confused. I then said, "She is a creature that helps my…pride out on this ship, our home. She can hear everything in our home and can be spoken to anywhere in our home as well. She is a friend, and a helpful one at that."

The lions seemed to nod with looks of "Ohhh…"

I then stuttered as I said, "Anyways, you were saying something SARA?"

The A.I. then said, "Before we scuttled the ship, I accessed the travel logs from the Type-9's frame shift drive. From there I think I may have pinpointed where these lions originate from. It was a simple matter of deducing star fuel scooping rates, to fuel extended in jumps, cross referencing the number of stars that are scoopable then cross referencing that with the exploration records of the ship to determine if it the ship had many forays into unexplored galactic territory."

I stared wide eyed as I then said with a chuckle, "Riiight…simple indeed." I rolled my eyes at the A.I.

SARA then said, "I can show you the location if you want to come to the observation deck, there I can show you on the galactic map in the mapping module."

I was relieved that we may have found exactly what to do with these strange lions…return them home.

I stood up and went to go access the panel for the container to drop the barrier. I pressed a few buttons, which earned me a, "Commander" in a drawn-out response from Jason as he readied his weapon on the container. Before I hit the execute command, I paused and then spoke to the lions, "I'm going to set you loose now. Since we are helping you, and frankly are your only chance or returning home, I expect you won't attack us." I looked around as the lions had looks of relief on their faces. I still hovered my finger over the button as I then said, "However, make no mistake that if any of you attack us, we WILL respond in defense. I hope it won't come to this, but make no mistake, alright?"

The lions either nodded or said, "Sure" or "alright."

I then said, "Good, we're trusting you here."

I then deactivated all their barriers. The lions bolted out of the containers to freedom, bouncing around in celebration for a newfound hope. The two cubs came up to me and nuzzled my legs saying, "Oh thank you, thank you."

I smiled and said, "Alright, y'all follow me to the observation deck."

**(Sometime later, nearing the observation deck, Xolania's perspective)**

We had followed the human named David and his two companions throughout their home. We have no words for what we saw in their home. Everything looked so foreign to us. We were barraging him with a million questions about, "what's that thing?" and "What's this do?" At one point we came across something called a "window", or a series of them on the left side of their home that looked out towards the night sky.

When Mufasa asked the human named Dr. Li about what this big and beautiful looking thing was through the window, Li said, "That's called a planet. Many of our kind, and mostly likely all of your kind, live on one, while some of us chose to live in space, which is the big blackness and balls of distant light you see."

He went on to explain that the planet was something called a "gas giant" located in TZ Aretis. The colors of the planet were stunning: browns, Oranges, Reds, and Blues, and the light was striking the right 2/3rds of the planet we could see.

We continued deeper into the ship until we got towards a large…door, they called it.

David tapped a few things on some bright orange thing and the door popped and hissed open. As the human named Jason stepped into the room, the light flooded the room from the…ceiling.

The crew explained what we were seeing. The front half of the room had a holographic galactic map projector, multiple chairs surrounding the center console in a circle. The center console itself was circular to match the shape of the arrangement. The chairs had white half circle frames and orange cushions. The walls had etched metal designs and floating holographic pictures of the surface of various planets, some had snow, others were dry like a desert, and had strange and beautiful looking plant life. Way in the back, was a lounge seating area that overlooked the observation deck. One continuous piece of glass went around the front of the room, and we caught a glimpse of something very bright and mind-blowing.

Shani asked, "Wow, what's that" as she ran over to the window propping the upper half of her body against the window.

David walked over to her and picked her up. Tamaria initially growled a little but settled down when she remembered that the humans meant her daughter and the other lions no harm. David cradled her as she looked up at him inquisitively. David pointed to the object and said, "That, honey, is a star. Specifically, that is TZ Arietis, a main sequence star. I have no clue the stars age, but it's a red dwarf star." He then pointed to something coming out of the star that Liani found fascinating and said, "That there is a prominence. Its part of the star's corona." The human stood there with Liani and said, "Man, you really can't deny that view." The ship was only about 40 LS away from the star and as such was getting quite the beautiful view of it.

The human set Tamaria's daughter down gently and she ran back to her mother and was ranting and raving about how cool everything she saw today was. Everybody chuckled at the youngster's rambunctiousness.

David then led the crew over to the mapping unit in the back of the room behind them. David had told the rest of the crew of the decision to release us, to which they were shocked that David would do something so stupid.

David told them of the agreement that they had that both sides would not harm the other unless in self-defense, both sides hoping that situation never came to be. Ellis was incredulous at first, as well as Cassandra voicing her concerns. Isaac offered jokingly to cook them if they were shot and killed. David was glad that the lions couldn't hear what Isaac said over his headset. He didn't want to see the results. David had told the crew to make their way to the galactic map console.

One by one, the crew arrived, with Ellis the last to. David noticed the tenseness between Ellis and Cassandra vs. us lions.

I spoke to Ellis, trying to alleviate his concerns of us, and said, "Human, your leader is trying to get us home. You have nothing to worry about us." He looked at me with a skeptical gaze from his seat around the console. I then said, "Look, I…we truthfully got the wrong impression of your kind from the human that had kidnapped us from our home. Prior to our arrangement with your leader, we assumed all your kind to be dangerous." I cocked my head slightly at him and said, "I hope I am right to be mistaken. I don't want to hurt you and neither does my pride."

Ellis smirked a bit turning back in his seat to face forwards and eased up his grip on the weapon he had. I was relieved when I noticed this. Quite actually. I hoped for these humans to be valuable allies for us, maybe even friends in the future, who know.

David then stood up from his seat and looked around the room. He then spoke.

"I see we are all here. Let us begin" he said in a calm professional voice. "SARA bring up the galactic map and show us what you found."

I heard a soft whirring as I looked to my left and saw the window of the observation deck have a black covering descending down to cover the window. Soon, we were in near darkness.

Suddenly, the console in front of us shot to life with an image being generated that hovered in the air. It was of some very bright and dense collection of what I assumed to be stars. I then heard the voice of SARA then speak.

"I will now project the most likely candidate for the Origin of Tyl Nacht's ship in its return to the bubble."

_The bubble _I thought. _ What could this bubble be_ I wondered.

After seeing all that these humans had on their ship, this "bubble" to me probably couldn't surprise me anymore than I already have been this entire time. This was like magic to me, and I presumed, the rest of the lions.

Suddenly the image oriented at a 90-degree angle and a circle with little lines appeared around it. The circle moved across the galaxy for a few moments, jumping from star to star in a pattern, almost like a trail. It finally stopped on 1 star way up in the top left of the galaxy.

There was silence in the room apart from remarks of curiosity, confusion, and mild outrage from David and his crew.

"That…makes no sense" said David in shock, mouth agape.

Linsey then said, "This just got complicated. I hope the ol' girl's got it in her for that long a trip."

Lauren then said, "She doesn't…yet."

Harnia then said, "Um…the lions are lost. What's going on?"

David then said, "If SARA's data is right, you aren't from Earth." That seemed to put the feeling of chills in the humans. "You're from an unexplored star system 25,000 LYs from Earth actually. How…how the hell can this be, it doesn't seem possible."

SARA then spoke up and said, "I have a quantum computation core and capable of solving equations at the speed of light, in addition to access to every readably accessible program available on the Galactic Extranet to aid me in such computations. If given enough time, I could hack into the central database of the Empire's military servers and actively combat their firewalls, all in a matter of second."

The room was silent in response. It then said simply, "When doing calculations, I do not make mistakes."

I was not able to understand nearly all of what was being said, but I could tell one thing for certain from hearing David and his crew speak.

This trip home was about to get far more difficult.

**(And there we have it my fellow readers and writers. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. If you would, please leave a review so I know how I did. Like I said, I changed the perspective from third person to first person in hope it would make the characters seem more intimate in their thoughts and perceptions to the readers. I will, at some point, do a rewrite of the first chapter. **

**Stay Safe and Creative my fellow readers and writers. I hope you all have a good time until next update.)**


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